A close-up look at NYC education policy, politics,and the people who have been, are now, or will be affected by acts of corruption and fraud. ATR CONNECT assists individuals who suddenly find themselves in the ATR ("Absent Teacher Reserve") pool and are the "new" rubber roomers, and re-assigned. The terms "rubber room" and "ATR" mean that you or any person has been targeted for removal from your job. A "Rubber Room" is not a place, but a process.

Saturday, February 28, 2009

The New York Times reported yesterday that Tom Napoli, Comptroller of New York State, (pictured at right) is auditing all school districts. We have no information that New York City is one of them, looking at the New York City Oversight webpage. On page 27 we can see a general comment on the financial status of the Department of Education, but this is not what is called for at this time, when misinformation and possible corruption is rampant. Mike and Joel, have you handed out copies of the School Districts Accounting and Reporting Manual? Does anyone remember my article on The Gill Commission? Can we say that anything has changed? Charter Schools are fighting any audits of their books at all, by anyone, ever. Parent Associations are told by school staff to buy products they need from "approved" vendors that charge triple the amount other retail outlets might charge...and the NYC BOE keeps on hiring more people despite a hiring freeze.

No one is stopping the run to deplete scarce resources, it seems. It's business as usual, and no one is minding the store, at least not in New York City.

February 27, 2009Auditors Peer Into Finances of New York Schools StatewideBy WINNIE HU, NY TIMESState auditors found that the Niagara Falls, N.Y., school district overpaid 272 employees by more than $500,000 in 2006, apparently incorrectly sending out an extra paycheck to each of them.

Separately, they discovered that a laptop computer assigned to a school administrator in Vestal, west of Binghamton, had been used to visit Internet sites for pornography.

And they determined that districts in Mount Vernon, Newburgh, North Syracuse, Schenectady and Williamsville could have saved a total of $212,000 on electricity if they had shut off computers at night and used power-save settings.

Under a mandate to audit all 840 of New York’s school districts, charter schools and regional education agencies by March 2010, Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli has dispatched hundreds of number-crunchers who have churned out multipage reports — more than 550 so far — that provide a revealing look at the day-to-day operations and finances of the state’s public education system. The audits are the first such routine checks of school district finances in decades, and they were prompted by a scandal in which half a dozen people, including the former superintendent, were convicted of stealing as much as $11.2 million from the Roslyn district on Long Island.

“If it could happen in Roslyn, it certainly could happen in any district,” said Mr. DiNapoli, who sponsored the legislation while a state assemblyman from a district including Roslyn. “You really have to be sure that money is not being used in a wasteful way, because for many of the communities, school district spending is such a large part of the property tax burden, which is the most onerous tax for people to pay.”

Superintendents and school board members at several local districts said that the audits had tightened financial controls and had made employees at every level more careful about spending taxpayer money, but that they also took up a lot of time and resources. Some also complained that the audits could be too focused on relatively minor infractions and accusatory in tone.

“For the most part it was helpful, but in some areas we felt that they took gratuitous shots at the district in a way that was self-serving for the comptroller’s office,” said Alan B. Groveman, superintendent of the Connetquot district on Long Island. (Editor: here is Mr. Groveman's bioAlan GrovemanLI Chapter Public Relations ChairSuperintendent of SchoolsCompany: Connetquot Central School DistrictAddress: 780 Ocean Avenue Bohemia, NY 11716Phone: 631-244-2215 x3508Email: agroveman@connetquot.k12.ny.us

Personal Bio or Company Description:

Dr. Alan B. Groveman has over 30 years of experience in the education field, most recently as the Superintendent of the Connetquot Central School District of Islip. He has served as an Assistant Superintendent for Business as well as for Personnel and for Curriculum and Instruction. He has a background in Psychology and Special Education, has taught at the graduate level and has consulted with schools and government agencies on a national basis. In addition to his educational career, Dr. Groveman has also served with Fire/Rescue departments including the Huntington Township Tactical rescue Team and worked closely with OEM, the police and other investigative agencies. He is a graduate of the City University of New York and received his Masters and Doctorate from Colombia University.)

The audit cited Connetquot’s multimillion-dollar surplus as evidence of lax budget oversight, but Dr. Groveman said the district had been purposely trying to build up reserves.

“Our explanations were ignored,” he said. “They said it was poor budget planning, and we said it was intentional. It would be dumb and inappropriate to spend every dollar we budgeted just because it’s budgeted.”

The state comptroller routinely audited school districts until the 1970s, when budget cuts led the office to limit them to a handful a year. The new law, passed in 2005, came with $5.4 million to hire 90 new auditors, and two years later, another $2.4 million for 45 more. In addition, nearly every district is required to submit an independent audit, using local funds, to both the comptroller and the state’s Education Department.The state auditors started with districts where they had received complaints about financial problems, then selected others randomly. A typical audit lasts about 40 work days. William Reynolds, a spokesman for Mr. DiNapoli, said that “school officials are given ample opportunity to respond to these audits, and their responses are included in the audit reports for the public to see.”

In the Grand Island district, northwest of Buffalo, an auditor sat in a spare room near the business office from June until December last year, reading through attendance records, purchasing orders and payroll accounts. At the auditor’s suggestion, the district has started requiring school employees who travel for workshops or conferences to submit the agendas along with reimbursement requests.“It’s not gross change; it’s fine-tuning, what we should be doing anyway,” said Robert W. Christmann, the superintendent(pictured at left).

Mr. Christmann said that he and other superintendents had paid attention as their neighbors were audited to make sure they did not make the same mistakes, and were generally being more careful with their finances and record-keeping. He said he had noticed more sign-in sheets at educational meetings across the state lately that people were “signing because at some point you may be asked to prove that you were there.”

Because of the sheer size of the New York City school system, the comptroller has been auditing those schools on an continuing basis. Recent reports have cited inaccurate records of textbook inventories and special education services and inconsistent use of green cleaning products required by law.

Robert N. Lowry Jr., deputy director of the New York State Council of School Superintendents, said the audits have too narrow a focus because they look only at compliance rather than larger fiscal issues. For instance, he said, state law prohibits districts from putting more than 4 percent of their budget into a general reserve fund — a cap that school officials have said could hamper their ability to avert budget problems in the future.

“It would be helpful if state leaders like the comptroller would question some of these mandates and restrictions,” Mr. Lowry said. “If you do these audits and criticize districts for failing to comply with all these detailed requirements, it reinforces the presumption that they all make sense. In some cases, it would be missing the forest for the trees in terms of what would be most helpful to taxpayers.”

Mr. DiNapoli said the purpose of the audits was to evaluate compliance and not to debate policy, though his auditors also assess districts financial condition and suggest ways to save like turning off computers at night. In addition, the auditors will review criminal background checks of employees.

In Vestal, auditors found that district laptops had been used to play children’s games and casino games, and in one case, to visit pornography sites. Vestal officials said that the administrator responsible for the laptop had lent the laptop to a family member who then used it inappropriately off school property.

After auditors found that the Niagara Falls district had overpaid employees, they were asked to repay the money or give up days off. Cynthia Bianco, the interim superintendent, said the audit was helpful but used overly harsh language in presenting its findings.“I think a lot of it was instructive, but the tone of it was almost accusatory,” said Mrs. Bianco, who added that many of the issues cited were corrected before the audit was released. “We agreed with much of what was said in the audit. It’s been years since there was this kind of oversight, and many laws have changed during that period.”

Charter schools group to appeal ruling on state auditsCara Matthews, Albany bureau, Democrat and Chronicle, January 18, 2009LINK

ALBANY — The New York Charter Schools Association plans to appeal this week a mid-level court decision that says the state comptroller has the authority to audit the publicly funded but privately run schools.

The association and more than a dozen of its members filed suit against Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli a year ago, contending that his office did not have the constitutional power to audit public entities that are charter schools, which are also nonprofit organizations.

The group is not objecting to others having oversight over charter schools. That's already in place with the state Education Department and the agency that authorizes the charter (either the state Board of Regents, the State University of New York, or the two city school districts that have opened up their own charters), said Peter Murphy of the Charter Schools Association.

The state Supreme Court agreed with the association's arguments, but the Appellate Division disagreed by a vote of 4-1. The next step will be the Court of Appeals, the state's highest court.

"We think both constitution and precedent place limits on the comptroller to audit recipients of public dollars," Murphy said. "If the ruling holds, every recipient of a public dollar at any level is now subject to the reach of the comptroller, and that is clearly not the constitutional system we have."

DiNapoli said in a statement that as the state's chief fiscal officer and auditor, he has the responsibility to oversee how tax dollars are spent, no matter where they go.

"The courts have correctly upheld the state comptroller's power to audit charter schools. Taxpayers have a right to know how the $140 million in taxpayer money that goes to charter schools each year is spent," he said.

The Comptroller's Office said in court papers that charter schools, like public school districts, lack the capacity to challenge the constitutionality of state legislation.

Because of the lawsuit, charter-school audits by the Comptroller's Office have been frozen for the past nine months, a spokeswoman for DiNapoli said. The agency issued 18 before that.

State legislators passed a law in 2005 to increase the comptroller's fiscal oversight of all school districts, including charters, following audits that found serious incidents of financial mismanagement in the Roslyn School District on Long Island.

The state Legislature and governor authorized charter schools 10 years ago to provide a new vehicle for improving education and give families more choice in schools. There are 115 charter schools operating this year, and nearly 30 more have been approved to open in the next year and a half, according to the Charter Schools Association. The state can authorize up to 200 of them.

New York State United Teachers praised the ruling. The court case is about accountability for using public dollars, said NYSUT President Richard Iannuzzi. "Charters were looking to be excused from that accountability, and that was just wrong."

The comptroller is saying that the standard has to be the same for everyone, Iannuzzi said.

NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi speaks to reporters at the end of an intense day on Capitol Hill. L-R: New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein; Rep. George Miller; Iannuzzi; New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg; and Rep. Carolyn McCarthy. Photo by Mike Campbell.

"I don't know why they would want to avoid it unless they have something to hide," he said.

NYSUT represents about 600,000 classroom teachers and other school employees, along with faculty and other professionals at the state and city universities and other education and health professionals. The union, which represents teachers in some charter schools, has been critical of charters and the financial impact they have on the public school system. Money follows students as they move from public school to a charter school, and cities with a large number of charter schools have been heavily impacted financially.

Charter schools are "incubators for new ideas" and methods that could improve education, Iannuzzi said.

An interesting proposition arose in New York City earlier this month. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio (see following article - Ed.) of the Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn suggested that four Catholic schools scheduled for closing could be turned into public charter schools.Details of the plan were reported in the New York Times, including skeptical comments from those involved in Catholic education elsewhere."Charter schools have taken some of the key elements we've prided ourselves on over the years. I'm very concerned about enrollment," said Sister Jane Herb, superintendent of schools for the Diocese of Albany.There has also been some speculation that Bloomberg's move would play well for him in a future election.The report also noted that in New York state, such a move would require a approval by the state legislature because current state law bars charter schools from being tied to any religious institution. Both Bloomberg and DiMarzio noted that the city would lease the buildings and religious instruction would be banned and religious symbols would be covered.The Erie area has found success with temporary leasing arrangements between public schools and closed Catholic schools. J.S. Wilson Middle School rented St. Andrew School while Wilson, in the Millcreek Township School District, was renovated. The Erie School District currently has a lease at Sacred Heart School while Erie tries to determine how to replace its aged Roosevelt Middle School.Could there be room for a longer-lasting alliance? The federal stimulus money has funds for shovel-ready projects, but it would be worthwhile to explore whether buildings that were shovel-ready decades ago could find new, permanent reuse to educate our youth.

Brooklyn's Catholic bishop made a rare political donation last month to a City Council candidate whose mother has power over a plan to save several parochial schools, the Daily News has learned.Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, (at right) whose diocese also includes Queens, personally contributed $250 to Queens candidate Geraldine M. Chapey (pictured at right) on Jan. 7, city campaign finance records show.

The donation came a month before DiMarzio and Mayor Bloomberg announced the city plans to convert some struggling Catholic schools in Brooklyn and Queens into charter schools.

Chapey's mother is a member of the state Board of Regents, which has the power to approve charter schools.

"I guess religion has a place in politics now," said Glenn DiResto, a retired NYPD lieutenant who is running against Chapey in a special election for the Council seat vacated by new state Sen. Joseph Addabbo.

"It creates a suspicion of impropriety. This is politics as usual," DiResto said.

Another candidate, Lew Simon, called the contribution a "conflict of interest."

"I've never seen the church speak out on a candidate before," Simon said.

DiMarzio - who heads a diocese of nearly 1-1/2 million Catholics - said there was no quid pro quo with the politically connected family.

"You can't make the connection," said DiMarzio, who said he has known Chapey for the past five years. "It doesn't exist."

The donation is actually worth $772, because it qualifies for a $522 match with taxpayer money under Campaign Finance Board rules.

It appears to be the 64-year-old bishop's first donation to any city, state or federal candidate, a search of campaign finance records shows. DiMarzio said he had donated to "very few" candidates "back in New Jersey" but couldn't remember their names.

A search of New Jersey campaign finance and lobbying records did not reveal any donations from DiMarzio.

Chapey's mother, Geraldine D. Chapey, who has sat on the Board of Regents since 1998 did not return a call for comment.

The plan to convert four Brooklyn and Queens Catholic schools into charter schools is still fluid, but the diocese plans to establish a nonprofit to oversee them. They could no longer offer religious education.

The proposal faces a number of legislative hurdles, and the state would need to pass a law for the plan to go through.

Council candidate Chapey - who seeks to represent portions of the Rockaways, Howard Beach and Ozone Park - said she hadmade no agreement with the bishop.

"The bishop is a citizen, and he's participating in the democratic process," said Chapey, a local Democratic district leader. "There was no discussion about charter schools. Absolutely and totally not. N.O. No discussion. That would be evil."

DiMarzio stressed that his donation was made as a private citizen. He said he doesn't expect Chapey to vote along church lines if she's elected.

"She's not the regent," DiMarzio said. "Her mother is. She is a very good parishioner of the diocese."

EXCLUSIVEThe National Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers and Treasurers

TV Appearances by Betsy Combier

Contact me with a concern or issue

I assist anyone who needs help, so email me your problem to start the ball rolling! I am a teacher/parent advocate, and I am the editor/writer for this blog and the website parentadvocates.org. I also write about court corruption on my blog "NYC Court Corruption". I am interested in random injustice and the criminalizing of innocent people. If you want to chat you may email me at: betsy.combier@gmail.com and I'm on twitter and have a facebook page too. I'm not an attorney and do not give legal advice.

If you want to talk with me about your 3020-a charges, I consult and go over your case without charge. No fee.

And, in response to the lies of certain individuals who resent my work, the truth is that all conversations are confidential and I do not tape secretly.

My Thoughts and Raison d'etre

This blog is about the denial of Constitutional rights by the Mayor, the New York City Department of Education and the Chancellor, New York State and Federal Courts, New York State legislature, and the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), as well as PACs and all parties participating in the business of public school education in New York City, to harm and in neglect of parents, children, and staff of public schools in the five boroughs. These thoughts are not simply mindless conclusions reached out of thin air, but a result of 14 years of research into the NYC DOE and the Courts as a reporter and paralegal.
I am an advocate of Unions and union rights, public schools and charters, and learning online as well as outside of the classroom. I cannot and do not support anyone, whether they be union management, government, private members of the political or legal system, or simply retired teachers with an agenda, if he or she tramples, discards, or rebuffs anyone's individual civil rights. As a reporter, journalist, advocate, researcher and paralegal, I have created this blog to inform the public about my experience working for the UFT and being the parent of four daughters who went through the public school system in NYC, as well as examine issues that flow from the massive denial of due process rights that I saw and have documented. The two most important points you should remember: first, everyone at the New York City Board/Department of Education and all Union bigs are motivated by power and money, and looking good. If anyone dares to blow the whistle on these racketeers, retaliation follows, so be a strategist; second, I am not an Attorney and nothing I write or say is legal advice, simply my thoughts. Take 'em or leave 'em.
Betsy Combier, Editor
NYC Rubber Room Reporter
http://nycrubberroomreporter.blogspot.com
New York Court Corruption
http://newyorkcourtcorruption.blogspot.com
Parentadvocates.org
http://www.parentadvocates.org
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The NYC Public Voice
http://nycpublicvoice.blogspot.com/betsy.combier@gmail.com
Lawline July 27, 2011
http://www.teachem.com/lawlinetv/learn/lawline-tv-teachers-unions-the-last-in-first-out-rule/

Principal Anne Seifullah changes her image so that she can keep her job amidst sexting and trysts in the school, Robert Wagner Secondary Sch...

Testimonial from an Exonerated Teacher

Dear Betsy,I am forever indebted to you, Betsy, for your expert counsel throughout a horrific ordeal. You worked tirelessly to prove my innocence in a 3020a proceeding that was instigated by a corrupt school district and fueled by lies. My proceedings ended with my complete exoneration, my record expunged and my immediate return to the classroom. We didn't even need to file an appeal! Thank you, Betsy. I am now eligible to retire and enjoy the benefits you helped me to protect. God bless you and the work you do protecting the innocent.Sincerely,Maria Gargano

Betsy Combier is the Best!

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FAITH

When we walk to the edge of all the light we have and take the step into the darkness of the unknown, we must believe that one of two things will happen. There will be something solid for us to stand on or we will be taught to fly. Patrick Overton

Truth Seeks Light - Lies Seek Shadows

Twins Jill Danger (left) and Betsy Combier(right)

sayin like it is

Actions Have Consequences

Writing as Music

Rubber Room teachers wish me a happy birthday (2006)

"Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all."

Rubber Room Satire

The Labor Movement

The Teaching Equation

We Can Work Out Our Differences

The E-Accountability Foundation

The E-Accountability Foundation brings you this blog which highlights issues that have or should be read by people interested in civil rights, and accountability. The E-Accountability Foundation is a 501(C)3 organization that holds people accountable for their actions online and, through the internet, seeks to bring justice to anyone who has been harmed without reason. We give the'A for Accountability' Awardto those who are willing to blow the whistle on unjust, misleading, or false actions and claims of the politico-educational complex in order to bring about educational reform in favor of children of all races, intellectual ability and economic status.

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Performance Management - Office of Labor Relations

From Betsy Combier

The NYC Office of Labor Relations, with the support of the UFT, has issued to principals a document called"Performance Management" on how to get rid of an incompetent teacher. Who is an "incompetent teacher"? Anyone the NYC Department of Education wants to remove from the system because he/she is too senior (makes too much money), is disabled (and therefore cannot be deemed factory-perfect) and/or is other impaired (is a whistleblower, cannot be intimidated, is ethnically challenged - not the 'right' race, etc).

Candace R. McLaren

Director, Office of Special Investigations (OSI)

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Polo Colon

"Rubber Room"

(1) a space where a worker subject to a disciplinary hearing or other administrative action waits and does no work; generally, a place or personal mind-set of isolation.(2) a literal reference to a padded cell, which is, according to the New Oxford American Dictionary, “a room in a psychiatric hospital with padded walls to prevent violent patients from injuring themselves.”from Double-Tongued Dictionary http://www.doubletongued.org/index.php/dictionary/rubber_room/

"Rubberization"

The word "rubberization" is a new word that is used to describe the process of assigning and paying people to sit and do nothing in a drab room away from their place of employment while their employers make up charges that allege sexual or corporal misconduct without any facts upon which to base the allegation on.

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Theresa Europe, NYC BOE ATU Director

Robin Greenfield

Deputy Counsel to the NYC DOE

UFT Pres. Mike Mulgrew and NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg

UFT umbrella pals

New York State Supreme Court Judge Manuel Mendez

ATR CONNECT

Tenured Teachers who are found to be guilty of misconduct or incompetency at 3020-a but are not terminated, who have blown the whistle on the misconduct of politically favored NYC Department of Education employees, and/or who are simply disliked for any reason can suddenly find themselves in the ATR ("Absent Teacher Reserve") pool - employees without rights or voices, and without chapter leader union representation.

This new group of people are the "new" rubber roomers without representation at the UFT and denied the protection of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, because basically they have been pushed out of their jobs unfairly and under color of law by Mayor Bloomberg and the Chief Executives of the Department of Education who call themselves "Chancellors", "Network Leaders", "Superintendents", etc., consistently without any facts or evidence to support the false claims.

A group of teachers who are, or were, made into ATRs, ATR Polo Colon, and I, Betsy Combier, an advocate for transparency and labor/employment rights, have joined together to expose the denial of due process, civil and human rights by chiefs of the NYC Department of Education (NYC DOE), certain arbitrators at 3020-a, leaders of the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), the "investigators" -agents who work for the Special Commissioner of Investigation (SCI), Office of Special Investigation (OSI), and the Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO) - and the Attorneys who work for the New York United Teachers (NYSUT), and the New York Law Department (Corporation Counsel).

In order to protect the safety of those who join this group to promote an end to the "Rubberization" process described on this blog since 2007, names of those who tell their stories will, for now, remain anonymous if the person so desires, and Polo and I will be the gatekeepers. So if you are an ATR, or know a story involving an ATR or someone re-assigned or about to go into a 3020-a, please use the email address advocatz77@gmail.com and give us your contact information. We will protect your anonymity and hold onto your privacy.

Betsy Combier and Polo Colon, Editors

FAITH When we walk to the edge of all the light we have and take the step into the darkness of the unknown, we must believe that one of two things will happen. There will be something solid for us to stand on or we will be taught to fly.

Patrick Overton

We have forty million reasons for failure but not a single excuse.Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

The Re-Assignment Overview by Betsy Combier

The New York City Board of Education decided in 2002 to rid the public school system of staff who interfered with their takeover and control. The criteria for a "good teacher" is now, more often than not, a "silent teacher", a person who never asks questions, is younger than 40, is making a salary below $50,000, does not care about kids and what they learn, or whether or not money (books, supplies, equipment, etc) is missing. When a teacher or staff member of a school dares to do the right thing and speaks out about wrong-doing - this person is often called a "whistleblower" or "flamethrower" - or, simply is not liked for any reason by the Principal/NYC personnel, suddenly he/she is accused of something by somebody ("given a label of "A", "B", "C", and so on) and whisked away to a drab room called a temporary re-assignment center or "rubber room". Members of the offices of the Special Commissioner of Investigation or the Office of Special Investigations then start work on building a case against the person to justify their being thrown in prison, declared "unfit for duty", or, as Mr. Joel Klein has said, characterized as "guilty of sexual activities and corporal punishment" against the children of New York City.The stories of the people I have met who sit every day in the 8 rubber rooms of NYC prove to me that Mr. Klein is very wrong about his assessment, and this blog is created to prove it to you.

Puppy Snooze

US Department of Labor ELAWS

Aeri Pang, Gotcha Squad Attorney

Attorney Pang, red dress, now chief Attorney For New York State Supreme Court Judge Cynthia Kern

New York State Supreme Court Judge Cynthia Kern

NYC EdStats You Can Use

$12.5 billion: Annual New York City Department of Education (DOE) budget (2002)

$21 billion: Annual New York City DOE budget (2009)
1,719: Number officials employed by the DOE central administration in June 2002

2,442: Number of officials employed by the central administration as of November 2008

2: Number of DOE officials earning more than $180,000 per year in 2004.

22: Number of DOE officials earning more than $180,000 per year in 2007.

5: Number of DOE public relations staffers in 2003.

23: Number of DOE public relations staffers in 2008.

944: Number of contracts approved by DOE in 2008, at a total cost of $1.9 billion.

20: Percentage of contracts that exceeded estimated cost by at least 25 percent.

$67.5 million: Annual budget of Project Arts, a decade-old program that was the sole source of dedicated funding for arts education. It was eliminated in 2007.

86: Percentage of principals who said in a 2008 poll that they were unable to provide a quality education because of excessive class sizes in their schools.

100,000: Number of seats DOE plans to provide for charter school students by 2012.

25,000: Number of seats DOE plans to build under 2010 to 2014 capital plan.

66,895: Number of K-3 school-children in classes of 25 or more during the 2008-09 school year.

15,440: Average number of seats per year built during the last six years of the Rudolph Giuliani administration.

10,895: Average number of seats per year built during the first six years of the Bloomberg administration.

27.2: Percentage of newly hired teachers in 2001-02 who were Black.

14.1: Percentage of newly hired teachers in 2006-07 who were Black.

53.3: Percentage of newly hired teachers in 2001-02 who were white.

65.5: Percentage of newly hired teachers in 2006-07 who were white.

76: Percentage of white and Asian students who performed better than the average Black and Latino students in 8th grade English Language Arts (ELA) in 2003.

75: Percentage of white and Asian students who performed better than the average Black and Hispanic students in 8th grade ELA in 2008.

77: Percentage of white and Asian students who performed better than the average Black and Hispanic 8th graders in math in 2003.

81: Percentage of white and Asian students who performed better than the average Black and Hispanic 8th graders in math in 2008.

54: Percentage of New York City public school parents who disapproved of Mayor Bloomberg’s handling of education, according to a March 2009 Quinnipiac poll.

Sources: New York City Council, New York City Comptroller’s Office, New York Daily News, New York Post, Eduwonkette, Quinnipiac Institute, Black Educator, Class Size Matters, New York City Schools Under Bloomberg and Klein.

Betsy Combier and NYSUT lawyer Chris Callagy

The New York City Whistle Award

NYC Whistlers, Winners of the NYC Whistle Award

...are those individuals in New York City who are willing to whistleblow unjust, misleading, or false actions and claims of the politico-educational complex in order to bring about educational reform in favor of children of all races, intellectual ability and economic status. Whistlers ask questions that need to be asked, such as "where is the money?" and "Why does it have to be this way?" and they never give up.

These people have withstood adversity and have held those who seem not to believe in honesty, integrity and compassion accountable for their actions.

Congratulations, and keep up the good work!

Betsy Combier

Special Commissioner of Investigation Richard Condon

Condon "qualified" for his current post after Bloomberg lowered standards; who will leash him?

A great teacher

After being interviewed by the school administration, the prospective teacher said: 'Let me see if I've got this right.

'You want me to go into that room with all those kids, correct their disruptive behavior, observe them for signs of abuse, monitor their dress habits, censor their T-shirt messages, and instill in them a love for learning.

'You want me to check their backpacks for weapons, wage war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, and raise their sense of self esteem and personal pride.

'You want me to teach them patriotism and good citizenship, sportsmanship and fair play, and how to register to vote, balance a checkbook, and apply for a job 'You want me to check their heads for lice, recognize signs of antisocial behavior, and make sure that they all pass the final exams.

'You also want me to provide them with an equal education regardless of their handicaps, and communicate regularly with their parents in English, Spanish or any other language, by letter, telephone, newsletter, and report card.

'You want me to do all this with a piece of chalk, a blackboard, a bulletinboard, a few books, a big smile, and a starting salary that qualifies me for food stamps. 'You want me to do all this and then you tell me. . . I CAN'T PRAY?

NYC Police Commissioner Ray Kelly

Joel Klein's famous statement about rubber room teachers and staff

On November 27, 2006, temporarily re-assigned teacher (TRT) Polo Colon asked Joel Klein, the "pretend" Chancellor of the NYC public school system, if he had voted to terminate teachers at the secret Executive Session held just before the public meeting of the Panel For Educational Policy.Mr. Klein answered,"We did not vote to terminate you. We did vote to terminate a teacher in executive Session...in fact, we voted to terminate two teachers. It's perfectly consistent with the law.Many teachers have been charged with sexual activities and some are charged with corporal punishment...I have no interest in removing people who are qualified to teach, I can assure you, because I dont get any return...and in fact, I have complained publicly about how long this process drags out. But our first concern will always be and, as a former lawyer and somebody who clerked on the United States Supreme Court I will tell you, there is no violation of due process whatsoever..."- extracted from the audiotape of the PEP meeting bought by Betsy Combier after filing a FOIL request to the NYC BOE

November 26, 2007 Candelight Vigil

The School Law Blog

A Review of Battling Corruption in America's Public Schools by Betsy Combier

Lydia Segal's book puts the NYC, Chicago, and California Departments of Education on notice....we who have read this book know more about how the system is not there for our kids than "you" want us to know. Lydia Segal's book Battling Corruption in America's Public Schools changes the public school reform movement forever. We can no longer assume that more money allocated to our schools will "fix" the disaster that is our public school system.

Lydia Segal draws on her 10 years of undercover investigation and research in over five urban school districts, including the three largest, New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago, and the two most decentralized, Houston and Edmonton, Canada, to provide, in her new book Battling Corruption in America's Public Schools, the details of the corruption, theft, fraud, and patronage that has overrun our public school establishment for several decades. There is no question that anyone who is interested in school reform -this means anyone who pays taxes, is a parent or guardian of a child attending school and/or who works toward a goal of establishing an education system that puts children first - must read this book. Ms. Segal's research and information on the education establishment's 'dark' side outrages the reader, and incites us to demand change. Her book therefore, is much more than a book, it is a call to action. We cannot be bystanders any longer to the systemic abuse she so vividly describes, and we will never be able to listen in the same way ever again to school Principals, Superintendents, school custodians or district board members as they request more money "to help the children."

The book's detailed reports on the corruption and crime in our public schools, supported by 52 pages of interview notes, references and specific examples, provide irrefutable evidence that the current failures of our nation's public schools are not due to the lack of money but the impossibility of getting the money to the children who need it and for whom the money is allocated in the first place. Recent statistics show that students of all ages are not learning what they need to know, schools are overcome with violence, teachers are demoralized, and yet billions of dollars are literally shovelled into the system every year. The New York City school system receives more than $16 billion every year; Los Angeles, $7 billion; and Chicago, $3.6 billion. Where does this money go? We have all asked this question as we have walked through school hallways dodging the paint falling off the walls and ceilings, watching our children sitting on broken chairs, using bathrooms without running water or toilet paper, and struggling to achieve their personal best without the services and resources they are supposed to have. Battling Corruption in America's Public Schools is the first book ever to systematically examine school waste and corruption and how to fight it. Ms. Segal, an undercover school investigator turned law professor, documents where the money goes, how waste and fraud embedded in the operation of large school bureaucracies siphon money from classrooms, distort educational priorities, block initiatives, and what we can do to bring badly-needed change. She describes in detail how only a small percentage of the money allocated to students in our public schools actually gets used by them due to corruption and waste, and how city school systems scoring lowest on standardized tests tend to have the biggest criminal records and most payroll padding. Coding problems, the procurement process, compartmentalization and opacity of information leave administrators with only two options: good corruption (which ultimately helps the kids) and bad corruption (which never helps anyone but the perpetrator and his/her allies and accomplices). Indeed, the system fights those who try the good corruption route.

Ms. Segal argues that the problem is not usually bad people, but a bad system that focuses on process at the expense of results. Decades of rules and regulations along with layers of top-down supervision make it so hard to do business with school systems that they encourage the very fraud and waste they were designed to curb. She tells us about how the "godfathers" and "godmothers" (the school board members) obtain jobs for their "pieces" in order to protect the systemic waste and fraud from being dismantled or exposed. Fortunately, she writes, there are good people involved in the corruption as well who must violate the rules in order to get their jobs done. Nonetheless, absurdities abound: school systems following rules to save every penny spend thousands of dollars hunting down checks as small as $25; it takes so long to pay vendors for their work that some have to bribe school officials to move their checks along; caring Principals who want to fix leaky toilets may have to pay workers under the table because submitting a work order through the central office could, and often does, take years. Meanwhile, those who pilfer from classrooms get away with it because the pyramidal structure of large districts makes schools inherently difficult to oversee. What makes Battling Corruption in America's Public Schools a must-read is not only the fascinating - and depressing - details of the systemic wrong-doing but also Ms. Segal's suggestions for reform, based on the proven track records of school systems across North America that have successfully reduced waste and fraud and have pushed more resources into schools.

The pathology of the corruption suggests the remedy, Ms. Segal says, which is decentralization of power into the schools and the hands of the Principals. Distilling what successful school systems have done, Segal advocates new forms of oversight that do not clog up school systems and recommends giving principals more discretion over their school budgets as well as holding them accountable for job performance. She argues for "autonomy in exchange for performance accountability" as part of a bold, far-reaching plan for reclaiming our schools. Her conclusion is logical and convincing. Everyone who reads this book will find his or her perception of public school education changed forever. We cannot accept any longer that a generation of children has been abused by a system that is so full of greed and corruption without screaming "stop!" and "Your game is up!"

Segal reveals how systemic waste and fraud siphon millions of dollars from urban classrooms and shows how money is lost in systems that focus on process rather than on results, as well as how regulations established to curb waste and fraud provide perverse incentives for new forms of both. Anyone who is interested in school reform--this means anyone who pays taxes, is a parent or guardian of a child attending school, and/or who works toward a goal of establishing an education system that puts children first--must read this book. --

Lydia G. Segal is Associate Professor of Criminal Law and Public Administration at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York.

The NYC BOE FAMIS Online Tour

The FAMIS Portal Online Tour provides an overview and demonstration of the FAMIS Portal. Computer speakers or headphones are recommended. Choose an item of interest below, or click on the Introduction to proceed through all of the modules in sequence.

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